A park currently under construction could be named after Amache Prowers, a Cheyenne activist who lived during the 1800s, when Indigenous communities faced violence and displacement by the U.S. government.
Denver City Council gave initial approval to the park’s name on Monday. The proposal requires one final vote from the 13-member body before the name is finalized.
The park, located near Kittredge Street and East Bolling Drive, is being built with $8 million from the Avion Metropolitan District. The quasi-governmental special district uses a mix of public and private dollars to fund improvements like shared facilities, landscaping and more.
After the nine-acre park is fully constructed, management will be turned over to Denver Parks and Recreation.
There is no estimated opening date.
Who was Amache Prowers?
Prowers was born around 1846 in Cheyenne Territory, somewhere along Colorado’s Front Range, with the given name Ameohtse’e. In 1864, she married John Wesley Prowers, a trader and farmer, and operated a successful farm with him.
Her father was murdered by American soldiers during the Sand Creek Massacre, when over 200 unsuspecting Cheyenne and Arapahoe people were killed. Following the attack, she and her husband reportedly testified to Congress, according to local archaeologist and University of Denver professor Bonnie Clark.
Amache Prowers was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2018. She was highlighted for her diplomacy between the tribes, American settlers and Mexican people who crossed paths in Colorado’s southeastern plains, as well as her advocacy for Indigenous rights following the Sand Creek Massacre.
Even after her death in 1905, her legacy persevered. During World War 2, Japanese Americans incarcerated at the Granada Relocation Center adopted “Camp Amache” as its unofficial name. Prowers County, where the internment camp was located, is also named after her family.
